Book Chatter

Good morning! Everything is blooming in the neighborhood and the weather has been super hot and then all of a sudden the temp drops 25 degrees. Hard to know when to take that walk with the pup. She loves a sunny day but if it’s too hot she wilts like a flower. I do too.

I’ve been very antsy of late. I know it has to do with the return to “normal” whatever that is. I was a crazy person before the shutdown. No time for myself, double-bookings of everything. I had to drop a lot of volunteer opportunities right before we shut down so it was weird when we actually did and all of my appointments got cancelled for me. Weird. I mean, I prayed for it and it happened but I certainly didn’t expect it to happen the way it did. My campus is returning to in-person classes this fall so I expect that we will be back on campus before then. I’m a little nervous about it.

In other news, I am waiting to see if the high school will have a prom or in-person grad ceremony of some sort. It’s very difficult to plan anything without knowing. Especially since my son is graduating from college too. At this point, I think most of the students just want to be done with school. There is a possibility of my daughter being able to perform in a musical soon. That would be wonderful. She’s not been able to perform for over a year.

Let’s wrap this up with reading. I recently reviewed Three Perfect Liars. It was pretty good! It came out awhile ago but I just now got to it and it was just what I needed. Now I am reading Northern Spy and hope I can finish it in a couple of days. Next is The Push and then Dear Edward. Have you read either of them? I have to read Dear Edward for book club next month but I might as well read it next.

Three Perfect Liars
By Heidi Perks
Gallery Books, 9781982139940, March 2021, 336pp.

The Short of It:

Exactly what I wanted. A good story that was hard to put down.

The Rest of It:

When Laura left her high profile job at Morris and Wood for six months of maternity leave, she had no idea that when she returned, the temp that she personally hired would still be there, sitting at her desk, working with her most important client. Turns out that Mia has done such a great job while she was away, that her boss Harry Wood has decided to keep her on.

At first, Laura is confused. Surely this is a mistake. Once she’s up-to-speed, things will return to normal but that’s not the case. Everyone in the office seems to love Mia and although Laura makes her feelings known, Harry doesn’t agree. Mia will continue to work with Laura’s previous client and Laura will work on other accounts.

As the tension mounts and Laura tries her best to balance her workload and the challenges that a new baby brings, she is convinced that there must be more at play. Why is Mia even there? Yes, she hired her but she was a temp and clearly not looking for a long-term position, or was she?

The pacing of this story was excellent. Perks quickly pulls you in. There’s a lot more than just workplace rivalry going on and although it’s immediately hinted at, it’s not immediately apparent what is going on. Perks keeps you guessing. I found this to be a solid story and loved how quickly I needed to turn those pages. It did remind me a little of the movie Baby Boom and those of you who have seen that movie might see some similarities in how the office is run but the similarities stop there. If you need a solid read that also happens to be a page turner, pick this one up.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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